


Worlds Apart

by LHS3020b



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Cerberus - Freeform, Corporal Toombs - Freeform, Gen, Krogan, Mass Effect - Freeform, Ontarom, Turian
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-16
Updated: 2014-10-16
Packaged: 2018-02-21 10:45:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2465393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LHS3020b/pseuds/LHS3020b
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the immediate aftermath of the discovery at Ontarom, Wrex is not happy.</p><p>Nor is Shepard, but she is surprised by how strong the krogan's feelings are.</p><p>(This was written for a prompt at the LiveJournal community.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Worlds Apart

_Ontarom, 2183_

‘I don’t understand,’ Wrex growled as they walked through the prefabricated building. ‘How could they do something like that? To their own kind?’  
Alice Shepard sighed. The assault rifle in her hands felt particularly heavy today. ‘I guess they felt fully-justified, Wrex,’ she said.  
They were in the final corridor, just before the exit door. Alice tilted her head to one side, calling up the comm interface in her helmet. ‘Garrus? Status?’  
‘All clear out here, Shepard,’ the turian’s voice crackled in her ears. ‘No survivors.’  
He sounded calm and self-assured. Alice remembered the very first time she’d met the turian, on the Citadel, just before that fateful meeting with the Council. Then he’d seemed frustrated, angry, maybe even a little out of his depth. But out here, amongst the wildernesses and uncharted worlds, he seemed completely in his element. Alice had harboured private doubts at first, but she was very glad to have him on her team.  
The same was true of the massive krogan next to her.  
The door hissed open, hydraulics protesting under the load. As it opened bright daylight spilled in, along with a distant rumble of thunder. Garrus had confirmed it was safe outside – Alice had sent the turian sniper on ahead of them, just in case of surprises. He would spot any remaining Cerberus operatives long before either she or Wrex would. Turian eyes were good at long-distance vision.  
‘They’re fools,’ Wrex said, still apparently being nagged by the earlier events. ‘Mucking around with thresher maws? If they want to play with maws, they could come to Tuchanka! We have all the maws anyone could want!’  
They stepped out through the door, onto the grass. A cool wind sighed around Alice’s exposed face. Ontarom’s sky was the same disconcerting mix of clear patches and thunderstorms that it had been earlier. Looming beyond the clouds and the hills was the massive shape of Thonal, the planet’s monstrously-close moon.  
Garrus met them a few yards from the circular prefabricated base. ‘Shepard,’ he said, ‘what went on in that place … it wasn’t right.’  
She nodded, feeling tired. ‘Toombs didn’t deserve that,’ she said. Glancing back at Wrex, she said, ‘I guess in their own minds, the Cerberus types must’ve felt justified. In what they were doing.’  
‘On what planet would any of that be right?’ Wrex demanded. Something about the situation appeared to have angered the krogan.  
‘This one, apparently,’ Garrus put in, in his usual dry tone. ‘Perhaps if this was somewhere else, they’d be using varren blood instead of thresher acid.’  
‘It’s not funny, turian,’ Wrex growled.  
Alice blinked. The wind hissed and the local grass-analogue shivered around them. Wrex really was angry. Then she connected the obvious.  
‘Doctors,’ she said.  
Wrex looked back at her, and nodded. ‘Yes. My people were defeated by doctors once. This?’ He waved a hand at the building behind them. ‘It reminds me of that.’  
‘The genophage seems like something Cerberus just might do,’ Garrus agreed, his tone abruptly serious.  
‘How can people justify this crap?’ Wrex said, repeating himself again.  
Alice glanced up, at Thonal’s vast bulk. ‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘I think there’s a gap, though. Between people like us. And people like them. And it’s bigger than the gap from here to there.’ She pointed at the ground, then up at the sky.  
For a short while, the three of them stood there, looking up at the huge shape of the moon, and contemplating. As they did, the wind sighed around them and some thunder rumbled far off in the distance.  
Finally, Alice shook her head. ‘Come on. Back to the Mako. Let’s get out of here.’


End file.
